Shortly after its formation in 1948, the United States Air Force issued a specification calling for a new type of high-speed target drone.

[1] Powered by a single Giannini PJ39 pulsejet engine, the drone, given the designation RP-26 by the company and XQ-1 by the USAF, was a high-wing, rocket sled launched aircraft.

Originally fitted with a large single vertical stabiliser, the design was modified to a twin tail configuration to provide additional clearance of its carrier aircraft.

[2] In an attempt to increase the potential flight time of the aircraft, one XQ-1 was re-engined with a Continental YJ69 turbojet replacing the pulsejet, becoming the XQ-1A;[1] however it was determined that further improvements were needed, and so a major redesign of the type was undertaken.

[1] Six YQ-1Bs were built for evaluation; they proved trouble-free, no production order for the type was undertaken, the competing Ryan Q-2 drone having been selected for operational service instead; as a result, the Q-1 program was terminated.